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INTERVIEW: Director Sam Raimi on ‘Spiderman 3’

Director Sam Raimi could be called the most adventurous genre filmmaker today. Steering moviedom’s most storied franchise at the moment, Raimi makes another go to conquer worldwide box-office with Spiderman 3 this weekend. Cutting his teeth on low budget genre movies like Evil Dead, it’s been a long journey with many bumps before landing the Holy Grail that is the Spiderman franchise. In this interview, Raimi speaks about his new cast and the evolution of the story. It’s interesting that Raimi hasn’t burned out on the franchise the way Bryan Singer has when he opted to make Superman instead of X-3. If that did happen, is the studio about to page the top go-to-director Brett Ratner?

There is always reason to suspect that Raimi might not return for Spiderman 4 if he finds another project. He spoke with Entertainment Weekly about the possibility of directing The Hobbit since the project doesn’t allow Peter Jackson to make it pending a resolution regarding the latter’s spat with New Line. About The Hobbit, Raimi says:

Peter Jackson might be the best filmmaker on the planet right now. But, um, I don't know what's going to happen next for me right now. First and foremost, those are Peter Jackson and Bob Shaye's films. If Peter didn't want to do it, and Bob wanted me to do it — and they were both okay with me picking up the reins — that would be great. I love the book. It's maybe a more kid-friendly story than the others.''

That would mean if Raimi helmed The Hobbit before the fourth Spiderman, the franchise could lose their director if they were on a timetable. Sony's President of Production Matt Tolmach told EW, ''Listen, we're making Spider-Man 4. Our hope, dream, and intention is to do it with Sam. But I don't have a crystal ball.''